Bitcoin spikes $900 higher

The largest cryptocurrency spiked in late morning trading to near $10,300. That marked a gain of more than $900, or about 10 percent, over 24 hours on Coinbase, the leading U.S. marketplace for major cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin was trading off those highs near $10,175 as of 11:54 a.m. ET.

There was no obvious reason for the gains. Other major cryptocurrencies traded slightly higher, with ethereum up about 4 percent near $863 on Coinbase.

Bitcoin 24-hour performance

Source: Coinbase

Around the time of the spike, cross-border currency exchange company Circle did announce that it is acquiring Poloniex, a leading cryptocurrency trading platform. Online releases by both companies about the news did not mention an acquisition price.

Poloniex has the seventh-largest market share of U.S. dollar-bitcoin trading volume, according to CryptoCompare.

Interest from Japanese investors was slightly greater than it has been recently, according to data from CryptoCompare. The website showed bitcoin trading in yen accounted for about 51 percent of the volume, while U.S. dollar trading volume accounted for about 22 percent as of late Monday morning.